In the early development of optical fibers, communications system designers proposed to power subscriber equipment using light propagated through the fiber. This remote powering scheme was thought to be an added attraction to lightwave communications, and would open new communications service opportunities. As the system designers and device designers explored this new possibility it was quickly discovered that the devices to enable the development to proceed were not available. The optical power density in a typical optical fiber transmission system was simply too low for practical power levels to be realized at the remote end. The best they could do was to transmit telemetry signals to equipment powered at the subscriber location. The telemetry signals could be multiplexed with data and voice information, so intelligent systems with considerable versatility could be and have been designed and implemented. In some cases these systems are remotely powered electrically, and others are optically powered at the remote location using photoelectric generators. But the goal of optically controlling mechanical or electrooptic functions at a remote location using power from the optical fiber has consistently been found impractical, and remains an essentially abandoned technology.